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Deer Tanner by Day, Film Critic by Night

Gabriel Bellebuono reviews a program of short films playing Saturday, Jan. 8, at 5 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center.

The Most Wonderful Egg in the World

When I watched this short film I thought, “This is really funny and unexpected.” I mean, who would ever think of a film like this? It is funny, short, good for little kids, and I think that little kids would really like it and want to watch it all over again. The movie is about three hens who each think they are the prettiest. Well, since they can’t decide who is the prettiest, they go to the king for him to decide. I also think it was a really good idea to make it so when they arrive at the king, guess what he was eating? A chicken! Well, the king said that whoever lays the most beautiful egg will be made a princess. And after that ... well, I don’t want to spoil the movie so I won’t say anymore.

City Paradise

This one is a little confusing but it shows some really funny pictures. It is about a girl that has come from far away to Paris, she speaks a different language and needs a map to see where she is going at all times. She really loves water and fish and loves to swim, so she goes to a swimming pool and has a little adventure. I do not want to tell all about it but it all turns out well. And teaches a little lesson to kids. Don’t run on the sides of the pool!

Pearl

This one is the shortest of all the films. It is about an old woman who is knitting designs and, from my perspective, you seem to go into the designs that she is knitting. All of it happens very fast so every little design holds for about 1 second but in that split second you can make out forms of animals and creatures. It is a good film for little kids.

Home with Mrs. Hen

This one is my favorite of all of them and once you watch it, it will be your favorite too. It is hilarious, shows real things that sometimes happen in real life. The parents will like it as much as the kids do, and the film uses real chicken noises. So, this film is around six to eight minutes long and is about a family of chickens. The mom is really busy doing all the chores and cleaning around the house and the little chicken is just following her around like his life depends on it. And to make this family complete, the teenage chicken, this character just sits in front of the television and plays video games. And when he is not doing that he is demanding food. But when the mother hen gives him food he pecks it twice and shoves it away. Well, as this sometimes happens with all parents, the mother hen freaks out. And when she is done freaking out, she throws the food in the trash. Well, this goes on for a few days or so before the mother hen throws the teenager outside but he comes right back in. So Mrs. Hen takes the little chicken and puts him next to his brother and leaves. I’ll leave you to find out the rest of the story.

Charlie Needs a New Cloak

This one is my second favorite. It is good for kids, funny, and for all of the teachers and parents out there, it’s educational. It is about a shepherd who has a nice house and a flock of sheep. He had a cloak but it was torn up and eaten by the sheep. So he decided to make a new cloak. So when spring arrived, he caught all of the sheep and sheered them. And there is a really funny sheep that cannot stand not having any wool, so it keeps on trying to steal it from Charlie. Well, it takes a long time but he eventually gets all the steps done and gets his cloak but while he is going through all of the steps to complete his cloak the sheep gets desperate to get its wool back and tries to get it whenever he can.

Bird on Wire

This one is absolutely great. It is about a bird who is determined to get a sandwich from a guy on a bench. Well, the bench is right under a wire and the bird is on the wire. The bird tries to poop on the guy to gross him out of eating the sandwich. That one almost works but fails. So instead the bird uses its most powerful weapon, the evil eye. It gives the guy the evil eye for a while before the guy gives the bird the entire sandwich after ripping off a piece of it. I’ll leave the rest for you to find out again, but before you go, for those of you who don’t know this, after eating, birds return to the nest to their young brood, and when she sees the open mouths she throws up her food into their mouths. Remember that.

Shh

This one is about a kid and his grandfather in a library. It is really funny the way everything turns out. Well, the kid is making noise rocking back and forth on his chair. The grandfather gets annoyed by the noise so stops him. Then somebody else in the library had their cell phone ring. The grandfather got really mad and impatient at the same time and took his thumb and put it in front of his eye so that he could not see the person and flicked it up. And the person was gone! The kid was watching and when the person disappeared he gasped. Well as usual, when a kid sees somebody else older doing it they just have to give it a try. Well, before his granddad noticed, the kid had made half the occupants in the library disappear.

Sleeping Betty

This one is really funny. It is almost the same as Sleeping Beauty. But the people took out some scenes and added some. So that made it hysterical. It starts like this. The mom is crying her heart out and the dad is trying to wake her (aka King and Queen trying to wake princess). All of the high court is there trying to wake her. But nobody can wake her. So they call the doctor to try to wake her. When the doctor got there he took out his stethoscope and listened to her heart. After that he reached into his bag and took out a saw. Well, that did not go so well, the king totally freaked out and the doctor walked out the door with the saw through his head. The story goes on, but I don’t want to give all of it away already.

So, all in all I think that these eight films will be good for kids, teach lessons, be educational, and really, really funny to watch.